Faith comes from the storms we encounter

This morning I was woken up by the pouring rain pounding down on the ground outside. Beating on the roof of my bedroom like it was trying to burst through. Sounding like it was going to break through my window panes. I looked at the clock and it was 4 am. Relieved I closed my eyes and went back to sleep. One more hour of sleep I told myself until I was woken by the sound of thunder and a flash of lightning. No I thought as I opened my eyes and saw that it was 4.54. Almost time to get up to mediate then write my blog. But how could I with this storm outside?

I got up went to the bathroom and as I read my thought for the day, lightning flashed before me followed by thunder. Sending a shudder through me. Making me think there was no way  I was going to be on the computer so I went back to bed. Waiting out the storm.  Waiting and waiting. Half asleep. Half awake. Watching the flashes of light. Hearing the faint sound of thunder. The storm coming and going. Sometimes close. Other times far way.

The rain pounding one minute then pitter pattering the next. Until finally I decided to get up. To brave the storm. To do what I have to do to start my day with purpose, peace, love and light. To still my mind and to prepare myself to go out into the world from a place of quietude and peace. My daily ritual. My equivalent of a cup of coffee to others.  I got up and sat at my computer and a song was delivered to me. A song that said, “Lord make me an instrument of thy peace. Where there is sadness, bring me joy. Darkness, light.  Doubt, faith.”

Listening to that song, I knew why I had been waiting. Why the storm had come. It had come to lead me to face my fears. To hear the turmoil that is going on inside me about what comes next. To surrender to the unknown. To trust that I am where I am meant to be. To not allow doubt to stop me from believing that I asked to come here to be an instrument of peace. And sometimes peace does not come until we have faced our storms. Sometimes peace eludes us until we recognise the storms we brew ourselves. Sometimes faith escapes us when we don’t recognise that it is doubt that brings us faith.

And then these lilting beautiful words came to me from the song to help me some more. To guide me. Lifting me up. Replacing my fear with love and understanding, acceptance and surrender. “Where there is hatred, let me so love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is despair, hope.  Where there is darkness, light. Where there is sadness, joy. ... To be consoled as to console. To be understood as to understand. It is in giving that we receive. It is in pardoning that we are pardoned. It is in dying that we are born into eternal light.”

For the storm this morning that brought my fear to the surface. My turmoil to a place where I could see it for what it was allowing me to surrender. To let go in order to be led to this song of inspiration and peace, I am truly grateful. Grateful because it helped me to remember to trust the light that shines within me. Within us all always when we allow ourselves to push through the storms that we will encounter from time to time.  Allowing me to believe there is nothing that cannot happen today or any day as long as I trust in the light. Trust in the Divine Plan. To have faith. To surrender and in doing so I open myself to all possibility. As do you. As do we all. Namaste.